Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus’s hit first novel, came about because of a bad day at the office. A highly experienced copywriter in the tech industry, Garmus gave a presentation for a million-dollar campaign to a room full of male colleagues. It was greeted with silence, she recalls when we meet in the Chelsea flat where the American author now lives. “Finally, this man who I hadn’t met before speaks up: ‘Well, I’ll tell you what I think we should do!’ Then he basically just read my entire presentation, start to finish.” When she pointed out that she had already said all that, he ignored her as if she wasn’t there. “That’s brilliant!” all her colleagues congratulated him.
“Oh, Bonnie, don’t forget we need that thing by five,” one team member called out as she left. She stomped back to her desk in a fury and wrote the first chapter of Lessons in Chemistry instead. “I did it on their dime,” she says, banging the dining table that also serves as her desk. “Well, thank you! That’s the best financial decision I ever made.”
